Jonathan Liss

The U.S. Ban on Online Gambling - Not Unlike the Chinese Ban on Democracy

I think you are missing the larger intention of David Neubert's post. He was (I believe) using China as an example to make a larger point about American hypocracy on the issue of gambling. China was likely just an easy target, because it is the world's largest totalitarian regime (I don't really think Chinese civil right abuses and lack of freedom of speech are up for debate). the point of the piece is that while online gambling is definitely the cause of social ills, so are other forms of gambling - only OTB and the horse tracks are even worse because they affect the poorer elements of society. Yet the government bans one while funding state programs off the other.

Neubert admits "I don't know exactly what the message says in Chinese when you try to access a site on democracy or religious freedom" - an indication that his China example is merely there to flesh out a point, not to be literal. Basically, he is saying "America claims a moral high ground over countries like China but in truth, they are no better."